The Pompeii of Kansas: Race, Environment, and Memory in Quindaro, 1982-1991

Title from PDF of title page, viewed January 31, 2023Thesis advisor: Brian FrehnerVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 51-55)Thesis (M.A.)--Department of History. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2022In January 1981, Browning-Ferris Industries entered into a lease agreement with the Kansas City Commission of Kansas City, Kansas to construct a landfill in the historic neighborhood of Quindaro. This agreement resulted in significant protests by the Black community of Quindaro, which challenged the municipal government in court and built a coalition of activists who protested the landfill. The township of Quindaro has a complex history of interracial cooperation between the Wyandot people, white Free Staters, and Black freedmen. The landfill threatened to destroy the physical remains of this history. The contest over the Quindaro landfill should be understood beyond the limitations of a localized phenomenon. Prior scholarship in the field of environmental justice (EJ) demonstrates that African American communities throughout the United States are exposed to disproportionate levels of toxic exposure, whether it be in the form of PCBs, lead, particulate matter from coal-fired power plants, or other forms of toxins. EJ scholars have examined the social power dynamics that led to discriminatory exposure, finding that it is a phenomenon rooted in colonialism, racism, and capitalism. This article utilizes government documents, newspaper articles, letters of correspondence among protesters, and oral histories of residents to demonstrate that government officials in Kansas City purposefully neglected the health and well-being of the predominantly Black population in the Northeast, while simultaneously dismissing the historical value of the archaeological site. This article ultimately seeks to demonstrate that the siting of the Quindaro landfill fits into broader patterns of behavior by the government officials to exploit communities of color.Introduction -- A history of resistance -- The beginnings of a crisis -- Consolidation, impugnity, and abuse -- Community activism -- Environmental assessment & government intervention -- Memory -- Conclusio

Ultrahigh and persistent optical depths of caesium in Kagom\'e-type hollow-core photonic crystal fibres

Alkali-filled hollow-core fibres are a promising medium for investigating light-matter interactions, especially at the single-photon level, due to the tight confinement of light and high optical depths achievable by light-induced atomic desorption. However, until now these large optical depths could only be generated for seconds at most once per day, severely limiting the practicality of the technology. Here we report the generation of highest observed transient ($>10^5$ for up to a minute) and highest observed persistent ($>2000$ for hours) optical depths of alkali vapours in a light-guiding geometry to date, using a caesium-filled Kagom\'e-type hollow-core photonic crystal fibre. Our results pave the way to light-matter interaction experiments in confined geometries requiring long operation times and large atomic number densities, such as generation of single-photon-level nonlinearities and development of single photon quantum memories.Comment: Author Accepted versio

Molecular analysis of endocrine disruption in hornyhead turbot at wastewater outfalls in southern california using a second generation multi-species microarray.

Sentinel fish hornyhead turbot (Pleuronichthysverticalis) captured near wastewater outfalls are used for monitoring exposure to industrial and agricultural chemicals of ~ 20 million people living in coastal Southern California. Although analyses of hormones in blood and organ morphology and histology are useful for assessing contaminant exposure, there is a need for quantitative and sensitive molecular measurements, since contaminants of emerging concern are known to produce subtle effects. We developed a second generation multi-species microarray with expanded content and sensitivity to investigate endocrine disruption in turbot captured near wastewater outfalls in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles California. Analysis of expression of genes involved in hormone [e.g., estrogen, androgen, thyroid] responses and xenobiotic metabolism in turbot livers was correlated with a series of phenotypic end points. Molecular analyses of turbot livers uncovered altered expression of vitellogenin and zona pellucida protein, indicating exposure to one or more estrogenic chemicals, as well as, alterations in cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A, CYP3A and glutathione S-transferase-α indicating induction of the detoxification response. Molecular responses indicative of exposure to endocrine disruptors were observed in field-caught hornyhead turbot captured in Southern California demonstrating the utility of molecular methods for monitoring environmental chemicals in wastewater outfalls. Moreover, this approach can be adapted to monitor other sites for contaminants of emerging concern in other fish species for which there are few available gene sequences

A PATO-compliant zebrafish screening database (MODB): management of morpholino knockdown screen information

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The zebrafish is a powerful model vertebrate amenable to high throughput <it>in vivo </it>genetic analyses. Examples include reverse genetic screens using morpholino knockdown, expression-based screening using enhancer trapping and forward genetic screening using transposon insertional mutagenesis. We have created a database to facilitate web-based distribution of data from such genetic studies.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>The MOrpholino DataBase is a MySQL relational database with an online, PHP interface. Multiple quality control levels allow differential access to data in raw and finished formats. MODBv1 includes sequence information relating to almost 800 morpholinos and their targets and phenotypic data regarding the dose effect of each morpholino (mortality, toxicity and defects). To improve the searchability of this database, we have incorporated a fixed-vocabulary defect ontology that allows for the organization of morpholino affects based on anatomical structure affected and defect produced. This also allows comparison between species utilizing Phenotypic Attribute Trait Ontology (PATO) designated terminology. MODB is also cross-linked with ZFIN, allowing full searches between the two databases. MODB offers users the ability to retrieve morpholino data by sequence of morpholino or target, name of target, anatomical structure affected and defect produced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MODB data can be used for functional genomic analysis of morpholino design to maximize efficacy and minimize toxicity. MODB also serves as a template for future sequence-based functional genetic screen databases, and it is currently being used as a model for the creation of a mutagenic insertional transposon database.</p

Managing Wicked Herbicide-Resistance: Lessons from the Field

Herbicide resistance is ‘wicked’ in nature; therefore, results of the many educational efforts to encourage diversification of weed control practices in the United States have been mixed. It is clear that we do not sufficiently understand the totality of the grassroots obstacles, concerns, challenges, and specific solutions needed for varied crop production systems. Weed management issues and solutions vary with such variables as management styles, regions, cropping systems, and available or affordable technologies. Therefore, to help the weed science community better understand the needs and ideas of those directly dealing with herbicide resistance, seven half-day regional listening sessions were held across the United States between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide resistance management. The major goals of the sessions were to gain an understanding of stakeholders and their goals and concerns related to herbicide resistance management, to become familiar with regional differences, and to identify decision maker needs to address herbicide resistance. The messages shared by listening-session participants could be summarized by six themes: we need new herbicides; there is no need for more regulation; there is a need for more education, especially for others who were not present; diversity is hard; the agricultural economy makes it difficult to make changes; and we are aware of herbicide resistance but are managing it. The authors concluded that more work is needed to bring a community-wide, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexity of managing weeds within the context of the whole farm operation and for communicating the need to address herbicide resistance

Managing Wicked Herbicide-Resistance: Lessons from the Field

Herbicide resistance is ‘wicked’ in nature; therefore, results of the many educational efforts to encourage diversification of weed control practices in the United States have been mixed. It is clear that we do not sufficiently understand the totality of the grassroots obstacles, concerns, challenges, and specific solutions needed for varied crop production systems. Weed management issues and solutions vary with such variables as management styles, regions, cropping systems, and available or affordable technologies. Therefore, to help the weed science community better understand the needs and ideas of those directly dealing with herbicide resistance, seven half-day regional listening sessions were held across the United States between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide resistance management. The major goals of the sessions were to gain an understanding of stakeholders and their goals and concerns related to herbicide resistance management, to become familiar with regional differences, and to identify decision maker needs to address herbicide resistance. The messages shared by listening-session participants could be summarized by six themes: we need new herbicides; there is no need for more regulation; there is a need for more education, especially for others who were not present; diversity is hard; the agricultural economy makes it difficult to make changes; and we are aware of herbicide resistance but are managing it. The authors concluded that more work is needed to bring a community-wide, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexity of managing weeds within the context of the whole farm operation and for communicating the need to address herbicide resistance

Analysis of Endocrine Disruption in Southern California Coastal Fish Using an Aquatic Multispecies Microarray

BackgroundEndocrine disruptors include plasticizers, pesticides, detergents, and pharmaceuticals. Turbot and other flatfish are used to characterize the presence of chemicals in the marine environment. Unfortunately, there are relatively few genes of turbot and other flatfish in GenBank, which limits the use of molecular tools such as microarrays and quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to study disruption of endocrine responses in sentinel fish captured by regulatory agencies.ObjectivesWe fabricated a multigene cross-species microarray as a diagnostic tool to screen the effects of environmental chemicals in fish, for which there is minimal genomic information. The array included genes that are involved in the actions of adrenal and sex steroids, thyroid hormone, and xenobiotic responses. This microarray will provide a sensitive tool for screening for the presence of chemicals with adverse effects on endocrine responses in coastal fish species.MethodsWe used a custom multispecies microarray to study gene expression in wild hornyhead turbot (Pleuronichthys verticalis) collected from polluted and clean coastal waters and in laboratory male zebrafish (Danio rerio) after exposure to estradiol and 4-nonylphenol. We measured gene-specific expression in turbot liver by qRT-PCR and correlated it to microarray data.ResultsMicroarray and qRT-PCR analyses of livers from turbot collected from polluted areas revealed altered gene expression profiles compared with those from nonaffected areas.ConclusionsThe agreement between the array data and qRT-PCR analyses validates this multispecies microarray. The microarray measurement of gene expression in zebrafish, which are phylogenetically distant from turbot, indicates that this multispecies microarray will be useful for measuring endocrine responses in other fish